55. BODHIDHARMA: The road to freedom

Bodhidharma (approx 5th/6th century CE) was a legendary Buddhist monk well known in both Chinese and Japanese buddhist lore. Some of his mythic feats including meditating in a cave, facing a wall for nine years. Yes, nine years. He was so angered that he fell asleep during the seventh year that he cut off his eyelids to prevent it from happening again. He also once ordered one of his disciples to cut off his left arm to prove his dedication. Yikes. According to legend, Bodhidharma is also responsible for creating Chinese martial arts. Having arrived at the Shaolin Temple, he was disturbed by the monks poor physical fitness which were preventing them from meditating for long periods. He taught them a system of exercises to strengthen their body which eventually evolved into Shaolin kung-fu. Can someone explain to me that why, if Bodhidharma was such a high practitioner of Buddhism, is he always depicted as grumpy and with an angry face?

Discussion (94) ¬

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I’m not sure they had koan practice when Bodhidarma was around, if he was around. I expect he is less angry and grumpy than serious. Anybody that can tell the emperor that just footed the bill for a big temple that it did zero towards getting him to nirvana is pretty serious in his practice.

Does being grumpy exclude being enlightened? Gives you something to work on anyway. “I must be mindful of what side of the bed I get up on in the morning.”

I don’t think I’d look all that great after walking from India and sitting in a cave for nine years.

Maybe it’s because he wasn’t Chinese so they weren’t exactly sure how to draw him? “Oh yeah, and put in that bit about no eyelids, that’s great stuff!”

“Do not accept anything by mere tradition … Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures … Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your pre-conceived notions … But when you know for yourselves — these things are moral, these things are blameless, these things are praised by the wise, these things, when performed and undertaken, conduce to well-being and happiness — then do you live acting accordingly.” – Lord Buddha.

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The story of cutting off one’s arm as a sign of dedication seems odd, though I see the point. The way its framed, and I haven’t gone off to google this story, it makes the sacrifice sound like a great loss endured to show one’s commitment. Very Judeo-Christian Old Testament. From a (zen) buddhist perspective, the ideal being expressed is probably to devalue your sense of self to a point where the loss of an arm would be worthless to you, meaning that you have truly let go of your own ego and beliefs with an acceptance of reality as it is, renouncing your attachment to natural human existence. From an angry guy (anger usually being a negative emotion derived from a self-valued judgement), I would probably take that order as a sign the guy was an introspective jerk.

My guiding buddhist quote is “The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.” – Yatsutani Roshi. It helps me cope with certain coworkers, drivers, and small children.

What a lot of people don’t know however is that Bodhidharma was the founder of Chan Buddhism (Chinese spelling), which became Seon in Korea, which in turn became Zen in Japan. “Zen” is also widespread in Vietnam nowadays. The reason why the word “Zen” is so well-known is because of Japanese monks in the United States…

His grumpy appearance has roots in aesthetics. The idea is for him to look fierce or dedicated. This is the same reason why lots of warriors from ukiyo-e have crossed eyes, slight fangs, wild hair, etc.

IIRC, the Japanese learned that from the Chinese art forms, but I may well be mistaken.

Ruminator — that’s correct. Scowling like someone just took the last swig of tea when your throat has a riceball stuck in it, is a staple in depictions of warriors both Chinese and Japanese. ;D Bodhidharma has another legend where he sat for so long his limbs fell off, hence the red scowling Daruma coin banks in Japan.

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Absolutely. Even Shakyamuni Buddha repeatedly said he was not a god or higher being of any kind, just a human who got angry, sad and joyful like any other human. Just one that found a way to wake up and open his eyes… and even you could be next. 😉

Bodhidharma did not force his disciple (Hui Ke) to cut off his arm to show his dedication, but to help him attain Enlightenment. Enlightenment is about giving up attachment. So if you can be detached of your arm, chances are good you give up attachment completely. Hui Ke later attained Enlightenment and carried on Bodhidharma’s teaching as the second Patriarch of Zen after Bodhidharma had passed away.

It is said that the first tea plant grew from Bodhidharma’s eye lids. 🙂

I don’t think “grumpy” describes it. His sight is fierce because of his determination (and also because of having no eyelids :P), but he wasn’t angry at people. He was very compassionate, but was harsh because he knew only those who can surmount the harshest will make it, not because he wanted to be harmful.

To a monk, pain is not a fetter; not their physical body.

Also Huike cut his arm because he had killed many people with it. One of the legends say that Bodhidharma told him that he would accept him as a disciple once there was red snow. Realising this was a “never” from Bodhidharma, Huike decided to cut his arm to show his determination and paint the snow red.

He’s depicted as being very serious, this was because he often talked of directly pointing to the mind, so when he is drawn people show his serious dedication to practice. By the way, Hui-Ke, the student who cut off his arm, did that without Bodhidharma’s prodding. The story goes that for several years Hui-ke followed Bodhidharma asking to be taught, but BD never spoke a word to him. So finally after spending a week in the snow outside his cave, Bodhidharma asked him what he wanted and Hui-ke replied that he wished for the master to unlock the dharma(truth in buddhism) gates. Bodhidharma replied that he would only teach Hui-ke when red snow fell from the sky, so Hui-ke cut off his own arm and twirled it in the air, the blood froze midair and landed as red snow. Bodhidharma smiled and said something along the lines of, “Very good. The Buddha’s of the past did not take their bodies as bodies, unafraid to spend limitless time in practice, willing to sacrifice themselves to find the Perfect Truth. I will teach you.”

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